Dutch bank ING has withdrawn its plans roll out a feature that allow firms to send advertisements to its customers based on their payments history, following a public outcry.

ING was planning to use big data to target customers with adverts and offers based on their spending behaviors. It was seeking to run a trial later in 2014 with thousands of customers who were ready to share their data.

However, consumer organisation Consumentenbond and others raised concerns and warned that use of payment data for commercial purpose should be seen with suspicion.

In response, ING said it only wanted to save customers money and will not share transaction data with third parties.

While admitting that it was not been clear enough about this sensitive subject, the bank said that it will now talk to customers, regulators and privacy organisations to determine whether and how to proceed before deciding whether to carry out the pilot run.

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